Friday 9 October 2015 23:16, UK
Stuart Lancaster has called on the Rugby Football Union to conduct their review into England's World Cup "privately and confidentially" following a report that Nick Mallett had been approached over the role of head coach.
Lancaster's future is in grave doubt after the hosts failed to reach the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time and the RFU's inquest will begin on Monday.
Mallett is said to have informed South African media that he had been called by the RFU earlier in the week, telling them he was not interested in a position for which he was interviewed in 2012 only to lose out to Lancaster.
The RFU denied it had made contact and Mallett, the former Springboks and Italy coach who is presently working as a TV analyst, stated through a spokesman on Friday afternoon that his words had been misinterpreted.
It was a pointer of what could lie in store during an anxious few weeks for Lancaster and the Cumbrian suspects the contents of the inquiry will not be kept secret.
"I have been reviewed many times, received 360 degree feedback, you name it. I have got no problems with it," Lancaster said.
"The difficulty is the desire for you guys to find out what is going on and how it is going and the need for it to be private and confidential.
"The ideal scenario is that it is done privately and confidentially and the results are then made public, but that might be quite hard I think."
